After more than two hours, the rain finally stopped. In the southern borderlands, rain came and went quickly – moments after it ceased, warm sunlight flooded the earth. The ground, freshly washed by rain, emitted a crisp scent of soil that would have been even more delightful if not for that seemingly all-pervasive fragrance. As soon as the rain stopped, An San emerged from inside, glancing at the three people in the hall – two seated and one standing – showing no surprise at the extra person. Ye Li pointed to the dried provisions on a nearby table and said, “Let’s fill our stomachs first. I doubt our host will bring us breakfast today.”
An San nodded and, under the three’s watchful eyes, unhurriedly ate his fill. The sickly scholar watched An San’s careful chewing with interest and said to Ye Li with a smile, “No wonder Young Master Chu dares to travel alone to the southern borderlands with such a skilled guard as Guard Zhuo for protection. Brother Zhuo, did you just wake up? Didn’t sleep all night?” An San lifted his head, gave him a bland look, and said quietly, “With only myself guarding the young master, naturally I must be extra careful.” The sickly scholar’s eyes darkened slightly – having even one guard of this caliber was already quite remarkable. From Zhuo Jing’s words, it seemed Chu Jun Wei normally had more people around him, making this single-guard situation unusual. Therefore… Chu Jun Wei’s identity must be extraordinary. He cast a slight glance at Han Ming Xi beside him – someone who could befriend the Tianyi Pavilion Master’s brother certainly wasn’t ordinary.
Noticing the sickly scholar’s inquiring gaze, Han Ming Xi gave him an innocent smile. Don’t ask him – he didn’t know Jun Wei’s identity either.
After the four finished preparing, they left the small building. Outside, the sunlight was perfect, though the floral fragrance in the air had grown even stronger. However, with the antidote provided by the sickly scholar, this didn’t affect the four of them. Returning to the neighboring building, Master Liang, the steward, and the guard called Zheng Kui were indeed gone. Han Ming Xi looked at the sickly scholar with schadenfreude and said, “Looks like they’ve been gone for at least two hours. How will you find them now?” With someone familiar with the terrain leading the way, two hours was enough to escape quite far, even in the rain. A cold smile curved the sickly scholar’s lips as he said quietly, “As long as they’re still in the southern borderlands, they won’t escape my grasp. Besides… why do you think they waited for us here? Their destination can’t be more than twenty li from here.”
The sickly scholar calmly took out a small box from his robe and opened it, releasing a tiny green moth. The moth fluttered its wings a few times, settled briefly on a small porcelain bottle the sickly scholar held open, and then flew up again, heading deeper into the stockade. “Let’s go,” the sickly scholar said placidly to the three, satisfied as he put away his medicine bottle.
The three followed behind the small moth, and indeed the entire stockade was empty. The darkness last night had prevented anyone from noticing, but aside from the two small buildings where they had stayed, all other houses in this stockade were very crude. It didn’t look like a village where civilians gathered, but rather like a temporary stronghold. The moth led them deeper into the mountains, and along the way, countless poisonous snakes and insects died under the sickly scholar’s dominant poison. Without deliberate provocation, these reptiles and insects understood self-preservation and didn’t swarm to attack them. After walking for nearly two hours, the moth stopped at the edge of a cliff, lingering and circling the sickly scholar, refusing to go further.
“Could it be that your little moth has led us astray?” Han Ming Xi said teasingly.
The sickly scholar gave him a bland look, returned the small moth to its box, and said to Han Ming Xi, “Go down.”
“Go down?” Han Ming Xi started, quickly realizing what was meant, and exclaimed in disbelief, “You want me to go down?! Do you know where this is? This is the southern borderlands! Who knows how deep it is, who knows what poisonous snakes or monsters are down there, and you want me to go down?!” The sickly scholar said, “Your lightness skill is the best. Otherwise, should we let Young Master Chu go first?” Han Ming Xi’s handsome face turned ashen as he watched the sickly scholar seemingly carelessly fiddle with his left hand’s fingers, then glanced at Ye Li and An San standing to the side. Though they hadn’t known each other long, Han Ming Xi knew that Jun Wei’s lightness skill wasn’t very good. If something happened down there, he might not even have time to escape. He snorted unhappily, “Fine, I’ll go down. Just you wait!” Wait until you open up the southern borderlands, this young master will make you pay!
Han Ming Xi’s feet lightly touched the ground, and his whole person floated down like a huge dark red butterfly, then plunged down the cliff. The sickly scholar praised softly, “Second Young Master Han’s lightness skill is indeed far superior to Young Master Mingyue’s.” However, it was only a lightness skill – compared to the deeply scheming and ever-changing Mingyue, the sickly scholar didn’t think much of Han Ming Xi. As long as he didn’t kill Han Ming Xi for Mingyue’s sake, the Pavilion Master wouldn’t have anything to complain about.
“Zhuo Jing.” Ye Li frowned as she stood at the cliff’s edge looking down, seeing only rolling white clouds with no view of what lay below. This cliff was probably more than twice as deep as the one below Black Cloud Peak. It was impossible to reach the bottom by lightness skill alone. An San stepped forward and reached out over the cliff, a silver thread with something attached rapidly descending the cliff face. After a while, An San slowly retrieved the thread, winding it around his palm, and turned back to tell Ye Li, “Young Master, it’s at least a hundred zhang to the bottom, and… the cliff face is very smooth.” Ye Li pondered – a hundred zhang was nearly three hundred meters, and such a high cliff face being smooth with little vegetation clearly couldn’t be natural. It seemed the sickly scholar’s moth hadn’t led them astray after all.
The sickly scholar watched An San’s actions with a flash of curiosity in his eyes, and just as he was about to speak, a figure shot up from below the cliff, landing awkwardly on the ground. Before he could catch his breath, Han Ming Xi started cursing, “Sickly scholar! Just wait, if you get this young master killed here, I guarantee Tianyi Pavilion will hunt you to your death!” The sickly scholar’s expression didn’t change, seemingly completely unmoved by Han Ming Xi’s threat, and coldly asked, “What’s down there?”
Han Ming Xi sneered, “What’s down there? Nothing worth mentioning! Even if there was something, with your pathetic lightness skill, could you even get down there? Don’t expect this young master to take you down, unless you want us both to be smashed to pieces!” Seeing the sickly scholar frown, Han Ming Xi mockingly taunted him. It seemed he had indeed encountered danger below, making him momentarily forget his wariness of the sickly scholar, only able to vent his anger and fright through sarcasm.
“Brother Han.” Ye Li called out sternly – there was no benefit in angering the sickly scholar at this time.
Han Ming Xi wasn’t an impulsive person, and with Ye Li’s reminder, he quickly suppressed his anger and said, “At the bottom of the cliff is a sea of flowers, though I suspect they’re all poisonous. There are many venomous snakes among the flowers, and several skeletons – don’t know if they fell accidentally or were thrown down. However, about seventy zhang down the cliff face, there’s a fairly large cave that seems to be an entrance. But…” He gave the sickly scholar a meaningful look and continued, “The cliff face has been deliberately treated, leaving nothing to gain purchase on. I wasn’t joking earlier – even with my lightness skill, it’s impossible to take someone down without falling to the bottom full of poisonous snakes and creatures. And you three… with your lightness skills, trying to go down alone is just a fantasy.” Han Ming Xi was still quite proud of his lightness skill.
“No wonder there weren’t any guards along the way – they were confident we couldn’t find the path?” the sickly scholar pondered. “If it hadn’t been Han Ming Xi with his exceptional lightness skill who went down, any one of us would have been doomed. There must be another way – I don’t believe all those people are masters of lightness skill.” Han Ming Xi proudly said, “Of course not, you think supreme lightness skill is easy to cultivate? But… even if there is another way, can you find it now?” None of them were mechanism experts, let alone in this completely unfamiliar southern borderland. More importantly, those Southerners weren’t fools – they wouldn’t just sit there waiting for them to find the way in.
“You…” The sickly scholar frowned at Han Ming Xi, who quickly hid behind Zhuo Jing, not even bothering to peek out his head. “Don’t look at me, even if I could get in there’s no point. In terms of martial arts, I’m not good enough. I estimate that even if it is an entrance, there probably isn’t enough room to use lightness skills. If I went alone, at most I’d just alert them to our presence.”
“What exactly is so important in there?” Ye Li frowned and asked.
“You have a way?” The sickly scholar frowned at her.
Ye Li didn’t answer, instead repeating her question, “What exactly is the thing you’re looking for?”
The sickly scholar snorted coldly – with those three people against just himself, trying to capture Chu Jun Wei as leverage wasn’t realistic. After a long while, he finally said gravely, “It’s a unique poison.”
Hearing this, the others’ interest immediately dropped by half. Han Ming Xi asked curiously, “You’re already world-renowned for your poisonous arts. What kind of poison could move you to risk yourself?” The sickly scholar gave a cold laugh, his eyes flashing with malevolent light, and said, “A kind… that makes people unable to live or die.” Ye Li wasn’t interested in what kind of poison could make people unable to live or die – there were many ways to make people suffer in this world, no need to risk oneself seeking some special poison. As for being unable to live or die, if someone truly wanted to die, there were plenty of ways – how could they be unable to die? Not dying was only because there was still hope and attachments in life. However, the malice in the sickly scholar’s eyes made Ye Li’s heart skip a beat, forming a somewhat vague idea in his mind.
“Being a poison master yourself, why risk seeking some strange poison?” Ye Li asked indifferently.
The sickly scholar gave a short laugh filled with venom and malice, followed by a fit of violent coughing. “True, I have many fine things, but that’s not enough… The world’s most excruciating poison is right here in the southern borderlands. Hehe…”
Ye Li looked at him with wide eyes, her voice rising slightly with curiosity: “I’ve heard the world’s most painful poison is the Gut-Breaking Bone-Rotting Pill. Those who are poisoned by it suffer their internal organs splitting apart and bones shattering, howling in agony for forty-nine days before death. Could there be an even more terrifying poison?” The sickly scholar smiled slightly smugly: “Indeed, the Gut-Breaking Bone-Rotting Pill is quite potent, but it must be taken orally and carries a strong medicinal smell. Even if masked with other scents, it can’t fool those skilled in medicine or with keen senses. But this is different – the poison made from it is truly colorless and odorless. Just one drop can condemn someone to eternal hell!”
“The Ghostly Netherworld Flower?” Han Ming Xi asked curiously.
The sickly scholar snorted dismissively: “You think the southern borderlands only have the Ghostly Netherworld Flower? Compared to whatever Ghostly Netherworld Flower hidden in the southern holy land, this is the true peerless treasure – the Azure Fall Flower.”
“Azure Fall Flower?” Han Ming Xi looked bewildered. “The name sounds quite elegant, but I’ve never heard of it.” The sickly scholar snorted dismissively again. Ye Li frowned and said quietly: “Above reaches the azure sky, below touches yellow springs.” The sickly scholar smiled: “Correct, this poison’s name is truly Azure Fall Yellow Springs.”
“Doesn’t sound like much,” Han Ming Xi said. Compared to names like Gut-Breaking Bone-Rotting, this one could almost be called poetic.
The sickly scholar smiled: “Indeed it’s nothing much. Once this poison touches someone’s body, it immediately merges into the blood vessels throughout their entire body. Unless you drain every last drop of blood, this poison can never be cured. Because even if there’s a way to replace the blood, as long as there’s even a tiny bit of poison remaining in the blood, it will spread and grow at the fastest speed in fresh blood.” Han Ming Xi asked in confusion, “Why is it called Azure Fall Yellow Springs?”
“Hehe… one in heaven, one in earth. Those poisoned appear perfectly fine on the outside, but their insides rot away bit by bit. The more poison accumulates inside, the more beautiful their exterior becomes. But… they can never touch any person or animal again.”
“Is it contagious?” Ye Li asked in a low voice, lowering her eyes.
“No, how could it be contagious?” the sickly scholar smiled. “Playing with uncontrollable spreading poisons leads to big trouble. The reason they can’t touch any living thing is because any warm living creature will cause them unbearable pain and accelerate their internal decay. So they can only hide alone in isolation, letting themselves rot and decay. Ah… their limbs will first become rigid and paralyzed. Perhaps they’ll starve themselves to death before they completely rot away.”
All three listeners felt a chill, especially with the sickly scholar’s sinister voice. Even in the bright sunlight, it made their flesh creep and bones grow cold.
“This is impossible. If it were just a poison, it wouldn’t be so heavily guarded,” Ye Li pointed out calmly. Even the most precious poison was still just a poison – except in the hands of someone like the sickly scholar, it might not even compare to a single pill that could cure a hundred poisons. The sickly scholar said gravely, “Correct. It’s said that if the Azure Fall Flower is combined with another medicine, it can supposedly regenerate flesh and bone and revive the dead. The current so-called universal antidote pills can only cure some common poisons. But an antidote made with the Azure Fall Flower can cure any poison or injury overnight as long as there’s still a breath of life left. It can even extend life. Tell me… wouldn’t people fight over such a treasure? If Liang made it into pills, even at ten thousand gold each, no one would think them expensive.”
Ye Li concealed the gleam in her eyes and nodded calmly: “I see. Indeed a treasure. Are you seeking it to cure illness?”
The sickly scholar sneered: “Curing illness and making poison serve both purposes.”
“Then… would one pill be a reasonable payment for my help?” Ye Li asked.
The sickly scholar stared at her coldly. “Payment?”
“Does the young master never pay for help? Since you say it can both cure illness and make poison, I can assume the Azure Fall Flower isn’t too rare. I’m not skilled in medicine, so the flower itself is useless to me. Therefore, just one pill that can cure poison and extend life shouldn’t be too much to ask, right?” The sickly scholar’s expression shifted, and after a long while he said gravely: “I agree.”
“Very well.”
“I can do it myself,” the sickly scholar protested. Having someone help him down made him feel weak, which he couldn’t accept.
Zhuo Jing glanced at him and said: “If you’re not afraid of falling to your death, young master can try by yourself.”
“You!” The sickly scholar’s face darkened, but then he saw Ye Li wave at him as she took the rope and went to the spot Han Ming Xi had indicated, skillfully securing the iron hook in place before throwing the rope down. Ye Li grabbed the rope and slowly slid down the cliff. Han Ming Xi leaned out to look and could see her gripping the rope, moving down the cliff face point by point – seemingly slow but with strangely practiced and swift movements. Soon she disappeared into the clouds and mist.
After quite a while, the gently swaying rope became still. Then with more violent swaying, the iron hook fixed to the rock gradually came loose. “Ah…” Han Ming Xi anxiously tried to grab it, but An San said gravely: “It’s fine, the young master has reached the bottom.” Indeed, after the hook came loose, the lower end of the rope seemed to be pulled down halfway, quickly sliding down the cliff. To the side, An San had already started preparing using the same method as Ye Li. The sickly scholar no longer argued, waiting for An San to go down before using his lightness skill to land beside An San and grip him tightly as they began moving downward. This time was notably much slower than Ye Li’s descent.
Han Ming Xi remained alone at the cliff’s edge, curiously looking at the iron hook and thin rope gripping the huge rock, muttering softly: “Jun Wei is a strange kid…”
When Ye Li had slid down about sixty zhang, she indeed saw a cave tall enough for a person not far to the side. She couldn’t help but feel grateful that when she’d discovered how useful this long, sturdy rope could be, she’d added considerable length to it. Otherwise, they might not have reached this spot. Gently applying force to move right, Ye Li accurately landed on the edge of the cave and steadied herself with a push. Han Ming Xi hadn’t been wrong – this was indeed a very deep cave with no visible bottom, like a tunnel carved into the cliff face, its pitch-black depths leading to unknown places. Looking at the fresh footprints on the ground, these people were so confident they hadn’t even posted guards at the cave entrance. Ye Li carefully stored the rope and walked forward a few steps, carefully waiting. After quite a while, An San appeared at the entrance with the sickly scholar. Just as the two had steadied themselves and before An San could even store the rope, Han Ming Xi floated down and darted into the cave.
“They went in this way,” Ye Li pointed at the footprints on the ground and the ceiling, saying: “Be careful, there should be mechanisms above. When I was coming down earlier, I looked carefully – there should be some kind of controllable mechanism on the cliff face, which is how they could climb down without lightness skill. Unfortunately, we don’t have time to search slowly.” The sickly scholar looked unwell – though being carried down by An San hadn’t taken much effort, it hadn’t been comfortable. “Let’s go. Don’t worry about the mechanisms for now.”
Ye Li frowned and asked: “Can you hold back your coughing?”
Nodding somewhat stiffly, the sickly scholar took out a bottle of medicine from his robe and poured it all into his mouth, his face looking even worse. “Don’t worry, I won’t cough anymore.”
Ye Li nodded. An San took the lead, followed by the sickly scholar, with Ye Li and Han Ming Xi bringing up the rear.
After walking for a while, the tunnel became dark and gloomy. However, it still seemed dry. When the light completely disappeared, the sickly scholar took out and lit a fire stick. Ye Li frowned slightly – lighting a fire in a tunnel with thin air wasn’t a good idea, but there was no alternative now. Han Ming Xi followed behind, raising an eyebrow as he watched An San and Ye Li walking with their backs against opposite walls, and said softly with a laugh: “Jun Wei, aren’t you being too cautious?” Ye Li gave him a white-eyed look: “How can I not be cautious compared to Master Han with his supreme lightness skill?”
The sickly scholar looked back at the three, then continued forward holding the fire stick. This tunnel built into the mountain wasn’t meant to be a maze of confusion, so they didn’t encounter any forks or labyrinths along the way. The path kept going downward, and when Ye Li estimated they must be nearly at the mountain’s foot, they finally heard movement ahead. The sickly scholar raised his hand to extinguish the fire stick, standing at the bend to look out. Sure enough, they saw two men in southern borderland dress standing not far away, with a door behind them from which the noisy sounds were coming.
These two guards didn’t expect anyone to come from this direction, huddled together and quietly joking about something. But the straight passage ahead was at least a hundred meters long and quite narrow. None of them could take down the two doorkeepers silently at this distance. And if these two made any noise, it would certainly alert those inside.
The sickly scholar silently took out an exquisite box from his robe and aimed it forward. With two soft whooshing sounds, the two Southerners immediately froze in place. The four quickly snuck past, with the sickly scholar being the first to slip through the door. As Ye Li passed the doorway, she paused, turning to see the two men still standing but with black blood trickling from their lips, clearly no longer alive. Her eyes darkened slightly as she slipped through the great door.
The atmosphere inside the doorway was completely different from the dark and cold tunnel outside – here it was stuffy and bright. Not far away, people came and went, and security became much more stringent. However, all four were above-average experts, so evading these guards wasn’t particularly difficult.
Crouching behind a barrier formed by a large rock, Han Ming Xi curiously glanced outside. It was bustling with activity, including the rhythmic sounds of metal being hammered. “What are they doing?” The sickly scholar said calmly, “They’re forging weapons,” pointing to the distance where quite a few completed weapons were already laid out. An San looked and made a gesture to Ye Li, who nodded in understanding. The weapons being forged weren’t the kind favored by jianghu practitioners or ordinary martial arts enthusiasts, but rather standard battlefield weapons. Such large-scale production by so many people was meant for some army.
“This isn’t our concern, let’s go,” the sickly scholar said, showing no interest in what weapons they were forging. His only interest now was the Azure Fall Flower.
“Do you know where Liang is?” Han Ming Xi asked.
The sickly scholar sneered, “He won’t escape.” Han Ming Xi nodded, “I remember now, you poisoned him, didn’t you? Where’s your little moth?” The sickly scholar gave him a cold glance before heading in another direction. Han Ming Xi shrugged, smiled at Ye Li, and followed. An San said softly, “Young Master, these weapons are being forged for a certain army of Great Chu.” Ye Li raised an eyebrow, “How do you know?” An San pointed to a row of swords nearby: “Southern people prefer short blades, Western Ling people’s blades are thicker. And the Northern Rong, their cavalry is strongest, they prefer long weapons or great swords. This style of sword is what our Great Chu soldiers typically use.”
Ye Li nodded and rose to follow Han Ming Xi and the sickly scholar.
The sickly scholar hadn’t been wrong – this was indeed a sizeable underground weapon forge. Two entire large caves were busy forging weapons, with most of the craftsmen being from the Central Plains, though some were Southerners. The two followed the sickly scholar past these people, the terrain continuing downward as they left the weapon-forging caves and entered another cavern. Compared to the rough caves before, this one was more like a decorated underground palace. The floor was laid with beautifully carved marble and comfortable, attractive carpets. “Are those people dead or not?!” Just as the four approached, a somewhat shrill voice came from inside. Ye Li frowned – it was the voice of the wealthy merchant, Master Liang. Now his voice carried none of the smug and contempt from before, instead showing several parts anxiety and killing intent.
“Rest assured, they definitely won’t escape,” came the voice of Luo Yi tribe chief Le Jiang.
“Why didn’t you send people to kill them directly!” Master Liang said dissatisfied, “That sickly scholar is terrifying, not killing him early will surely cause trouble. If he hadn’t followed me all this way, I would have reached the southern borderlands long ago. But no matter what, I couldn’t shake him off! And that Han fellow knows that sick one too. We absolutely cannot let them live, whatever the cost!”
“Whatever the cost?” Le Jiang sneered, mocking: “Who’s paying the cost? You think I don’t know those people aren’t simple? Even the snake swarm couldn’t handle them. Every man of my Luo Yi tribe is precious beyond measure – how many would we sacrifice in a confrontation with them? You think my Luo Yi tribe has endless people to kill like your Great Chu?”
“Don’t forget…” Master Liang shouted angrily. Le Jiang loudly replied, “Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten what I should do. But you’d better not order me to do things beyond the scope of our agreement.” The people inside seemed to choke for a moment, and after a while, Master Liang finally spoke: “But… if those people escape, do you think they’ll spare us? I don’t know about the other three, but you must have heard of that sick one’s reputation. He’s the Third Master of the Western Ling King of Hell Pavilion.”
“Why did you provoke someone from the King of Hell Pavilion?!” Le Jiang was greatly angered, shouting furiously.
“How would I know?! He inexplicably showed up just days after I set out, I couldn’t even try to drive him away – that person is famously vindictive. What could I do?”
“So you brought him to the southern borderlands with you!” Le Jiang gnashed his teeth for a while before finally snorting, “I understand. I’ll send people to deal with them quickly. Don’t worry, the path down the mountain has already been sealed, and now that mountain is covered with poisonous insects and snakes. Even if he is a sickly scholar skilled with poisons, I don’t believe he can poison an entire mountain of venomous snakes and insects!”
“In any case, be careful, you must see his corpse. If you had just killed them at the start, we wouldn’t have so much trouble now.”
Le Jiang sneered, “He never left your side – do you think we could kill him before he killed you? I’ll go arrange things, you stay put. Don’t forget your item – if the master doesn’t get what he wants, you know the consequences!” Master Liang’s breath suddenly caught, and he quickly said, “I know, I’ve brought half the token. Give me the other half.”
Le Jiang snorted coldly, “This was originally our southern borderlands’ possession.”
On matters of profit, Master Liang showed no weakness, “The item is in my hands, only I know how to get it.”
“That was entrusted to the Liang family by the former King of Nanzhao, not given to you,” Le Jiang said gravely.
“Haha, so what? You also know it belongs to the Nanzhao royal family, not to you?” Master Liang laughed, “Isn’t it good enough that I didn’t give it to the Nanzhao royal family?”
“Isn’t it because we offered a higher price? Giving it to the Nanzhao king would get you nothing but a few words of thanks,” Le Jiang sneered.
Master Liang said, “You want the treasure, I want money. Everyone gets what they need, right? So you’d better quickly give me the other half of the token, and stop playing games – this mountain has been nearly hollowed out by you, right? Without me, you absolutely won’t find the treasure. Also, don’t think about silencing me – don’t forget who’s behind me…”
Master Liang’s smug tone made Le Jiang very uncomfortable, but there was nothing he could do. He could only say coldly, “I understand, I’ll bring it over shortly. You’d better not play any tricks – the master has already said he must see the item within half a month at the latest. Otherwise… even if the Heavenly Emperor himself is behind you, it won’t help!”
Master Liang’s smug laughter choked off, and after a while, he finally said, “I understand, don’t worry. I know about the relationship between the Prince and your master. I’m not someone who doesn’t know his limits. Just give me the token, and when we reach Nanzhao’s capital, I guarantee to deliver the item before your eyes.”
“That would be best!” said Le Jiang. His footsteps gradually faded away, leaving the room in silence except for Master Liang’s somewhat turbid breathing.
What now? The four stood in their hidden corner, Han Ming Xi using his eyes to signal the sickly scholar. The sickly scholar lowered his gaze, a sinister smile flitting across his already gloomy face. Han Ming Xi shuddered, casting a somewhat pitying glance at Master Liang who was anxiously pacing inside. Who knew what kind of torture that old man would endure?